All News

February 22, 2005

And It Supposedly Stays Cool Up To 1,800 (F)!

By ANN Contributor John Schmidt
The other night, during an EAA chapter meeting, someone starts
the DVD player and says "Watch this." It's a demo DVD from a
company called EPM-Avcorp, based in Utah. It shows the quest of a
homebuilder who, concerned about the possibility of fire breeching
his RV6A firewall, decided to roll up his sleeves and design a
better mousetrap.

Agusta Westland Says It Was A Success

Agusta Westland says it successfully completed the maiden flight
of the Japanese EH101, the first of four aircraft ordered by Tokyo,
after just 44-weeks of was successfully completed at Agusta
Westland's Yeovil facility in the UK. The helicopter, designated
KHI-01, is the first of 14 aircraft ordered by the Japanese Defense
Agency to meet its Transportation, Airborne Anti Mine Counter
Measures (AMCM) and Antarctic survey requirements.

Ed Bolen will be the featured speaker at the first general
membership meeting of the Greater Washington Business Aviation
Association (GWBAA) on Friday, February 25 at the Signature Flight
Support facility at Washington Reagan National Airport.

NASA Budget Guts Aeronautic Research To Support Space

NASA is the "National Aeronautics and Space Administration," and
ex-director Sean O'Keefe was fond of saying that he wasn't going to
forget the first "A". But the new NASA budget strips resources from
aeronautics programs in order to fund the two bottomless appetites
of the space program: the shuttle's return to flight, and the
International Space Station.

Investment Firm Says Even Drop In Capacity Won't Make Things
Better

GAMA says the future of general aviation is looking much
brighter than it was a year ago. The investment firm Moody's,
however, says the same is not true for the airline industry. Nope,
it's not a matter of phasing out capacity. Instead, it appears to
be a problem with fare structures.

Woman Mouths Off To Screener, Luggage Blown Up

You see the signs every time you pass through the airport
security checkpoint: Don't even joke about bombs or guns or
knives.
The problem was, 46-year old psychiatrist Esha Khoshnu wasn't
joking. Not in the least. Apparently more-than-miffed at the long
line ahead of her as she made her way through security at Sky
Harbor Airport in Phoenix, AZ, Dr. Khoshnu snapped. Police say she
told the screener, "if there was an item in my baggage, the
security screeners probably couldn't find it."

Advertisement

Forest Service Takes To The Air, Catching Wilderness
Scofflaws

From the Tahoe Tribune comes a story of airborne law
enforcement. The law in question: the designation of large tracts
of land in the Western US as "wilderness areas;" and the
lawbreakers: snowmobilers, to whom the law applies just as much as
to motorcyclists and off-road truck drivers.
Indeed, it even applies to the Forest Service itself: "We're not
allowed to ride snowmobiles into wilderness areas, either," Anthony
Botello, resource management officer at El Dorado National Forest,
told the Trib.

Technically, They Make Northwest's Fleet One Of World's
Oldest

Perhaps they had an inkling of the troubled times ahead. Perhaps
not. No matter what drove Northwest Airlines to gut and refurbish
more than 100 DC-9s ten years ago, the decision proved a good move
for the financially struggling airline. Sure, on paper, it looks
like NWA's fleet is one of the two oldest in the world. But then
again, the company owns the DC-9s, finds them generally more fuel
efficient than the competition and in the end, saves a whole lot of
money as a result.

Three Modified 747-400s Will Carry 787 Assemblies

Boeing has selected Evergreen Aviation Technologies Corporation
(EGAT) to convert three 747-400 passenger jets into cargo
freighters that will be used to transport major assemblies for
the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Next Progress Mission Will Carry Extra Supplies

When the next Progress supply ship launches from the Baikonur
Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan March 2nd, it'll carry an extra big load
of food, water, air and gear. The idea is to not only keep the
station stocked for its resident crew, but to make ready for a
possible emergency when the US space shuttles begin to fly again
later this year.

Advertisement

New Damage Detection Sensors Not Ready To Fly

More than two years of careful investigation and painstaking
planning may come down to the last minute in NASA's attempt to
return its remaining shuttle fleet to service in May. Even though
Discovery's launch date has been set, not everything NASA pledged
to the Columbia Accident Investigation Board has come to fruition.
In this case, the new sensors designed to detect fatal hull
breaches may not actually work until the very last minute before
launch.

Hundreds Stranded In Melbourne

Australian health officials are investigating Monday's shutdown
emergency shutdown of the south terminal at Melbourne Airport,
after more than 50 people had to be treated for nausea, dizziness
and shortness of breath. The terminal was evacuated and closed down
for eight hours. Hundreds of passengers were still stranded early
Tuesday morning as the two airlines that operate from that
terminal, Virgin Blue and Regional Express, worked feverishly to
arrange flights and make accommodations.

Buys 24 Upgraded Aircraft

Vance AFB Mechs Converting From T-37 To T-6A

The future is sitting in Hanger 129 at Vance AFB in Enid,
OK.
In this case, the future comes in the form of two Raytheon T-6A
Texan II aircraft. They're not being flown by the USAF student
pilots at Vance -- yet. Instead, they've been sent over by Moody
AFB in Georgia as training beds for the DynCorp Technical Services
contractors who will maintain them.

Rick Milburn New President

Meanwhile, Global Flyer Still Being Prepped In Kansas

It looks like Steve Fossett's nonstop, solo flight around the
world in the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer jet may finally get off
the ground at the end of the week. Fossett and Virgin Chairman
Richard Branson announced Monday that improved flight conditions
may allow for the record flight to launch on Friday, February 25,
or Saturday, February 26, subject to ground, weather and jet stream
conditions.

Advertisement

"If there was [a bomb] in my baggage, the security screeners
probably couldn't find it."
Source: Esha Khoshnu, a frustrated 46-year old
psychiatrist traveling from Phoenix to San Diego, in a comment
reportedly made to a security screener at Sky Harbor Airport. As
you might imagine, the TSA doesn't think much of remarks like that,
so the good doctor was detained. Her luggage, ironically, made it
onto the flight and all the way to Lindbergh Field. There, the
America West commuter was directed to a remote part of the airport.
Some 35 passengers and crew were taken off the aircraft and bused
away while the bomb squad went over the aircraft and the cargo.
They found nothing, so they searched Dr. Khoshnu's luggage. Still,
they found nothing. So, just to be sure everythi